Transformative Teaching & Learning Blog

Amidst a very trying time for the city of Boston, I boarded a flight to Beantown to deepen my understanding of the connection between educational neuroscience and teaching and learning. With my Head of School, Robert Kosasky, I found myself at Harvard where I considered myself, for all intensive purposes, a student for the day.

This is the fourth time in 15 years at St. Andrew’s that I have been given this opportunity to deliver what Jewish people would call a “sermon” or what Episcopalians and other Christian denominations might call a “homily.” In the past, I have been called off the bench during the Jewish High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur to talk about the New Year or Day of Atonement. Most recently, I had the chance to talk about the 5^th commandment--to Honor Your Mother and Father--at a time when my mother was nearing the end of her life. But on July 26^th of 2012 I opened up my e-mail to find a message from Reverend Alexander asking if I could speak at Chapel during the most eagerly awaited week of the year: Brain Awareness Week.